"It's a hard, hard situation we're in. There's no playbook for this sort of thing in life."

With a late comeback on Sunday, they got a momentary reprieve from their grieving.

The Cowboys overcame a nine-point deficit in the closing minutes behind Romo, who held his hand over his heart during a moment of silence to honor teammate Jerry Brown before the kickoff. The linebacker died in an auto accident early Saturday.

Defensive lineman Josh Brent, who was driving, was released from jail on Sunday in Texas about an hour after the game ended. He's charged with intoxication manslaughter.

The Cowboys (7-6) learned about Brown's death during their flight to Cincinnati on Saturday. Coach Jason Garrett told his team that the best way to honor him was to play well in a game with playoff implications for both teams.

One of the visitors' metal lockers at Paul Brown Stadium had a strip of white athletic tape with "53 JERRY BROWN" printed on it, a wooden stool inside sitting upside-down. Brown's No. 53 jersey was on the sideline during the game — defensive tackle Jason Hatcher held it up after Bailey's kick decided it.

There wasn't much of a celebration by an emotionally spent team.

"I don't remember crying this much other than maybe the day I was born," defensive lineman Marcus Spears said. "With Josh's situation and Jerry being gone, you felt it."

Players couldn't keep the tragedy out of their thoughts during the game, finding their minds wandering on the bench.

"I rarely let my emotions get the best of me," fullback Lawrence Vickers said. "Today they did, but this was the place to do it."

Owner Jerry Jones described his team as grieving when it took the field. It was the second consecutive week that an NFL team was playing a day after losing a teammate. Last Sunday, Kansas City beat Carolina 27-21 one day after linebacker Jovan Belcher shot his girlfriend and then himself at the Chiefs' practice complex.